Tun Mahathir's interview with Malaysiakini, published on 9 May 2007, provided an interesting note on the Defence Ministry's "purchase" of 18 Russian-made Sukhoi jet fighters supposedly worth $900 million. Tun M said that the purchase was made through "local agents" appointed by the Russians. Who are these "local agents"? We probably won't know for sure. But this is probably one of many questions that I, along with the public, ponder upon about this purchase. Probably it's one of those deals that shouldn't have been known to the public in the first place.
This article made me think about several things: Were the $900 million the total sum of 19 jet fighters or part of a bigger deal which involved sending our first astronaut into space? Or more simply, what is the breakdown of the $900 million? If the sum total of the 18 jets is $900 million, which makes each jet worth $50 million, how come the Vietnamese only got the same type of jets for $30 million? On the other hand, if the deal included the astronaut's flight ONLY, then wouldn't that make the cost of sending the astronaut $360 million? Or was the higher cost for the jets due to the extra requirements of the Su-30MKM jets that we asked for e.g. replacing the Israeli electronic countermeasure in the jets with those from South Africa? On another note, who had the last word in making the purchase? Was it really agreed upon after Russian President Vladimir Putin met Tun M in Kuala Lumpur? Was it Najib's decision? Was it the Defence Ministry's decision? The answers to these questions might not be known to the public for a very long time, if ever. This is probably the first arms purchase that has generated so much attention in Malaysia. That's only because the Defence Minister has somehow been implicated and charged with profiting from the deal. Did he really? The questions just keep coming.
Godspeed,
Fadli
Fadli
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